Aiming to reduce the impact on the global environment and enhance end-user comfort and safety levels, the Ricoh Group is tackling important issues by establishing a strict management system for environmentally-sensitive substances contained in its products, reducing ozone, dust, and volatile organic compounds (VOCs)* emitted when products are used, and ensuring that its supplies are safe.
Environmentally-sensitive substances contained in products will affect the environment when the products come to the end of their lifecycle and are improperly disposed of. An ecobalance assessment shows that reducing the use of these substances will ultimately lessen the environmental impact a product has during its lifecycle and reduce recycling costs to a great extent. The Ricoh Group is making efforts to reduce environmentally-sensitive substances and create a reliable management system that covers the entire manufacturing flow, including suppliers.
* VOC stands for volatile organic compound. TVOC stands for total VOC.
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Create and enforce a system of managing chemical substances contained in Ricoh Group products (in fiscal 2005). |
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Observe Ricoh standards that cover environmentally-sensitive substances emitted by products. (Observe Ricoh standards that cover such substances as ozone, dust, and VOC.) |
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We made continuous progress in strengthening the management system for chemical substances contained in our products by using a PDCA cycle. During this year, we also reviewed and revised the list of chemical substances controlled by the Ricoh Group to implement even more stringent control and restrictions on the use of substances that carry substantial risk for the human body and the environment. To comply with the REACH Regulation, we also commenced developing a communication system to ensure that chemical substance information is communicated to every corner of the supply chain.
Concerning emissions of environmentally-sensitive substances generated by products, Ricoh was quick to satisfy the Blue Angel requirements that came into force in January 2007, and a range of products, including 20 products –including a series of copier, multifunctional copier, and printer models– launched in fiscal 2007 have attained Ricoh standards for ozone, dust, and VOC (see Table (1)).
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To ensure that our chemical substance control across the entire supply chain of the Ricoh Group is fully compliant with the REACH Regulation, we will upgrade and strengthen the Group's management system. We will also continue our efforts to further reduce environmentally-sensitive substances in products.
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Data
See more details about the data of Pollution Prevention.
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